Semiconductor devices, such as flexible thin film transistors (TFTs) and inverters, have been widely used in a variety of modern applications. Examples of these applications include, but are not limited to, liquid crystal displays, electronic paper, and radio frequency identification tags. There is a growing demand to make these applications less expensive and more efficient. This demand drives the development and synthesis of new semiconducting materials that can facilitate production of inexpensive and highly efficient semiconductor devices.
Over the last thirty years, inorganic based charge-transfer (CT) compounds with interesting physical and spectroscopic properties have been investigated as potential new semiconducting materials. One example of inorganic based CT compounds with interesting physical and spectroscopic properties are nickel-based CT complexes. Molecular alignment, film morphology and molecular packing of the nickel CT complexes make them inexpensive and highly efficient semiconductor materials.
Nickel has eight valence electrons in the 3d-orbital and, therefore, can intrinsically coordinate with two neutral organic ligands and form a dianionic square planar supramolecule. Accordingly, the molecular alignment, film morphology and molecular packing depend on the selection of the organic ligands and counter cations for the nickel CT complexes. The selection of the organic ligands and the counter cations influences molecular interactions, thereby influencing the molecular arrangement, film morphology, and molecular packing of the resulting bulk semiconducting materials. By proper selection of the organic ligands and the counter cations, efficiency of the semiconducting material can be increased.
The foregoing description is merely intended to provide an overview of some of the conventional semiconductor devices and semiconducting materials, and is not intended to be exhaustive. Problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.